


Tarnished Symbols of Hope

by kitkatt0430



Series: Hartmonfest 2020 [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Grief, Hartley and Cisco react to Rowling's terf screed, M/M, Referenced Antisemitism, Referenced queerphobia, basically JKRowling's views are referenced and she's a bigot, putting away parts of childhood, putting my own feelings to words here, referenced homophobia, referenced transphobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:08:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24708844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkatt0430/pseuds/kitkatt0430
Summary: It used to be that these books represented hope to him.  Hartley's not sure what theHarry Potterbooks represent now, but it isn't hope.  Not anymore.
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway
Series: Hartmonfest 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769584
Comments: 9
Kudos: 30
Collections: HartmonFest 2020





	Tarnished Symbols of Hope

**Author's Note:**

> I really can't imagine either Hartley or Cisco reacting with anything but tears in response to JKRowling deciding to write that transphobic piece of shit she posted up for all to see and I needed to work out my own feelings about it too. I honestly don't know if I'll ever be able to read the _Harry Potter_ books again after her latest rant.
> 
> Anyway, this fits well with the prompt for Hartmonfest June 10 - "I don’t forgive you but I still love you". The exact words aren't present, but the sentiment is there in the form of Hartley and Cisco's feelings towards the _Harry Potter_ series itself.

Hartley’s first encounter with the _Harry Potter_ series when he was only nine years old. It was on some recommended reading list – not that Hartley can remember which one now – and it actually sat on his shelf for almost a month before he finally had time to read it.

The book was hardbound with a vibrant cover and Hartley remembers being entranced by the story. He stayed up late to read it all the way through in one night and it was worth the daze he spent the following day in. He reread again and again after that, indulging in what he now recognizes was a hyperfixation on the series.

Nine year old Hartley Rathaway didn’t know he was gay. But he did know he was different in ways his parents didn’t approve of. So the kid trapped in a closet by relatives who hated him for not being normal was something Hartley empathized with heavily.

He practically devoured every book that followed. Reading and rereading until he could quote entire sections by memory. The day the first _Harry Potter_ movie was announced, Hartley just about cried because he was so happy and excited.

The books got him through some of the worst moments of his life. Being disowned, leaving two different abusive boyfriends over the years, Harrison’s betrayal… Hartley had weathered each one, returning to the familiar, comforting world of Harry Potter.

And today he was boxing those books, and movies, away. Hartley honestly didn’t know if he’d ever be able to read or watch them again.

* * *

The shine started to wear off the series, and the author specifically, as Hartley grew older. He might be deaf and gay, but he was also white, Christian, cisgender, and his family was very wealthy. So Hartley came from a place of privilege and didn’t recognize some of the truly awful flaws that existed within the narrative.

Antisemitic tropes found within the flat, mono-personality species of the goblins as well as within the character of Severus Snape. Rowling’s queerbaiting commentary about Dumbledore – a highly polarizing character to be sure – was gay and in love with one of the two Wizarding analogues to Hitler. The fact that Cho Chang’s name itself was racist. The lack of non English characters… and so much more. Truly, there were a lot of problems with the series.

As Hartley got older and learned how to interrogate the texts he read, a lot of Rowling’s prejudices became increasingly obvious. So, like many fans, Hartley came up with headcanons to ‘fix’ the problems with the story.

Cho’s first name wasn’t actually Cho. It was a nickname her older sister gave her and was an in joke between them. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan were madly in love with each other, which is the real reason Ginny broke up with Dean. She figured out before he did that he was as gay as the day was long. Hermione was black and most definitely did not end up married to Ron Weasley, as they were clearly better off as friends. Harry was arospec and it took him a long time to accept that it was okay he didn’t fall in love the way others did. Draco was gay and Astoria was a lesbian who agreed to be his surrogate after he agreed to donate so that she could have a kid with her girlfriend. Neville was trans and the first time he went up the stairs to boy's dorms he’d been terrified the magic keeping boys and girls dorms separate wouldn’t let him up and then everyone would know he wasn’t cis. Ron was dyslexic and learning about how muggles handled learning disorders completely revolutionized his feelings about learning new things.

In fact, Hartley had dozens and dozens of different headcanons he liked, the myriad possibilities competing in his head for which was his favorite this week. They changed and grew as his understanding of the world changed and grew. He adopted new ones he saw on Tumblr and read on various LiveJournal blogs and fanfiction sites. Compared to the wizarding world Rowling envisioned, Hartley saw a colorful world where even he could belong.

In college he read _Harry Potter_ fanfiction more often than the actual books, but his now battered and much beloved copies held a special place in his heart no matter where he might be living at the time. They were a symbol of hope for him.

But more cracks began to show as the canon lore of the series grew. Rowling’s decisions regarding the number of wizarding schools and particularly her story about the founding of Ilvormorny betrayed Rowling’s ignorance of other cultures that she showed no interest in rectifying and Hartley became increasingly certain that her decision to make Dumbledore gay had less to do with her growing as an author and more to do with her wanting to throw a bone to her queer fans in order to shut them up. She might not think she was homophobic, but the things she said and did spoke volumes.

Hartley’s high hopes for the prequel movies were dashed by the white washing of Harlem and Rowling's racist responses to criticism. By the time the second _Fantastic Beasts_ movie came out, Hartley couldn’t bring himself to watch it, a decision reinforced by every review he read. Rowling’s ignorance and prejudices were on display in spades, and it was almost unsurprising every time the author spoke up to defend herself by doubling down on her bigotry.

And yet, somehow, her latest debacle was still a massive kick in the teeth. It was, without a doubt, the final straw.

He didn’t know what the _Harry Potter_ books represented to him anymore, but it wasn’t hope. Not anymore.

* * *

Cisco knows its something bad when he comes out of their bedroom that morning to find Hartley sitting on one of the over-sized spinny chairs crying, laptop open on the coffee table.

“Hart?” The sight of Hartley this heartbroken jolts Cisco awake in a way that neither coffee nor tea have ever managed. He hurries over and crouches carefully in front of Hartley, gently laying a hand on Hartley’s knee instead of holding Hartley’s hands. Hartley might need his hands to talk when he’s this distraught. “Sweetheart, what’s happened? Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

Hartley sniffles and wipes at his face and then turns the laptop to face Cisco. He signs “read for yourself” and so Cisco does.

It’s the most transphobic piece of shit writing Cisco has ever had the misfortune to lay his eyes on. It’s infuriating, full of disproved science referenced like they were truth and the ableist bullshit… it made Cisco feel sick to read J. K. Rowling try to use abuse she’d suffered in the past to justify her decision to heap abuse on an entire swath of people in the present. Once upon a time, he’d looked up to her.

No wonder Hartley was crying. Cisco was crying too.

He closed the web page, squashed himself into the over-sized chair with Hartley, and they held each other as they grieved for a loss neither quite knew how to quantify.

* * *

They weren’t throwing out the books yet.

Once Cisco could speak without sniffling every other word and Hartley could sign without his hands shaking with anger and sadness, they discussed what to do with their various _Harry Potter_ paraphernalia. The original seven books and the eight movies went in a box in storage closet on their balcony. Everything else they were going to have to decide whether to save or donate on a case by case basis.

The paintings and wands they’d made themselves at the Painting with a Twist place down the road stayed, along with the little plush Hedwigs. The paintings represented their second first date and the effort they'd both put into fighting for their relationship after a meta human had wiped six years of Cisco's memories away. The wands represented their strong friendships with Team Flash, bonds no celebrity behaving badly could hope to break.

A few candles named in honor of the books also stayed. They liked the scents, though Hartley and Cisco both agreed not to get anymore of those candles unless the candle maker changed the names to honor some other series. Their Hogwarts uniforms, which Cisco had made for them, joined the books and movies in the box destined for storage in the balcony closet. Pretty much everything else they piled in an Amazon box to donate, though Cisco is considering rescuing the snuggie to store with their robes until Hartley’s in a better place mentally, since Jerrie was the one who’d given it to him. (In fact, when Hartley went to go take a shower to clear up his sinuses, Cisco shifted the snuggie over to the storage box. It wouldn’t hurt to sit on it for a while and donate it later if Hartley really didn’t want it.)

Cisco had some old t-shirts in his quilt pile that he fished out. He’d loved these shirts back when they’d still fit him right. The _Harry Potter_ series had made him feel accepted when his own family had no idea what to do with a kid who could do advanced calculus at thirteen.

Now that childhood acceptance felt like a lie he’d been told, the rug yanked out from beneath his feet.

The t-shirts were dropped unceremoniously into the donation box.

Cisco still loved the series, but he wasn't sure he would ever be able to forgive the _Harry Potter_ books for having an author who spewed such awful, dehumanizing vitriol and believed herself to be sympathetic for doing so. And Cisco knew Hartley felt just as strongly.

So Cisco taped up the donation box and set it by their front door. They could drop it off at a Freespace donation point later in the week. Then he stowed away the plastic box full of books and movies and fabric so that Hartley wouldn’t have to look at them when he got out of the shower.

It felt like the ending of an era. 


End file.
